p0nk:Other teams in your division 10 games each = 40 gamesOther teams in your league (non divisional)2 series each (1 home - 1 away) 3 games each series = 60 games---- interleaguesame division (eg AL East vs NL East)2 series (1 home - 1 away) 3 games each = 30 gamesother interleague 1 series games each = 30 games------total 160 games (close enough)

It's certainly an improvement. But, as a matter of principle, I still have to object to the slightly-divisionally-weighted nature of your schedule. (Full disclosure: I'm an Orioles fan. That's why I'm butthurt about this.) It's a bloody travesty that in a league with wildcards, the O's have to play 19 games apiece against the Yankees, Rays, and Sox, while the Indians, say, get to fatten up on the Little Sisters of the Poor. Moreover, the O's, Yanks, and Sox all have to play more than 10% of their schedules (18 games) on turf, while no other team (saving the Jays and Rays, who did it to themselves) would possibly have to play more than 6 such games. Everyone in the league should play the same schedule, or as near as possible (The current need for interleague, attributable to MLB's utterly irrational desire to create two league with odd numbers of teams, kinda messes up the ability to make schedules truly the same.). I understand the revenue reasons for the divisionally weighted schedule. But it's disgraceful that MLB so openly places revenue ahead of fairness. Even coach-pitch leagues for 6 year-olds know that it would be highly improper to heap structural inequities on top of difficult-to-address financial ones. End rant.

ChildOfBhaal:p0nk: Other teams in your division 10 games each = 40 gamesOther teams in your league (non divisional)2 series each (1 home - 1 away) 3 games each series = 60 games---- interleaguesame division (eg AL East vs NL East)2 series (1 home - 1 away) 3 games each = 30 gamesother interleague 1 series games each = 30 games------total 160 games (close enough)

It's certainly an improvement. But, as a matter of principle, I still have to object to the slightly-divisionally-weighted nature of your schedule. (Full disclosure: I'm an Orioles fan. That's why I'm butthurt about this.) It's a bloody travesty that in a league with wildcards, the O's have to play 19 games apiece against the Yankees, Rays, and Sox, while the Indians, say, get to fatten up on the Little Sisters of the Poor. Moreover, the O's, Yanks, and Sox all have to play more than 10% of their schedules (18 games) on turf, while no other team (saving the Jays and Rays, who did it to themselves) would possibly have to play more than 6 such games. Everyone in the league should play the same schedule, or as near as possible (The current need for interleague, attributable to MLB's utterly irrational desire to create two league with odd numbers of teams, kinda messes up the ability to make schedules truly the same.). I understand the revenue reasons for the divisionally weighted schedule. But it's disgraceful that MLB so openly places revenue ahead of fairness. Even coach-pitch leagues for 6 year-olds know that it would be highly improper to heap structural inequities on top of difficult-to-address financial ones. End rant.

Why even have divisions then? Why not just divide the league into two halves and take the top 4 (or top 5, whatever) as the playoff teams for each league?

p0nk:Other teams in your division 10 games each = 40 gamesOther teams in your league (non divisional)2 series each (1 home - 1 away) 3 games each series = 60 games---- interleaguesame division (eg AL East vs NL East)2 series (1 home - 1 away) 3 games each = 30 gamesother interleague 1 series games each = 30 games------total 160 games (close enough)

Every other team in the league, 3-game home and away series: 174 games. No playoffs unless there's a tie record at the top.

/would be the best way to determine a champion if you need to have an interminable season, and it would actually be a little shorter than the current one//but then you can't sell playoff rights/tickets and that's what makes you the most money///playoffs aren't about "proving yourself as a champion," they're about money